Soak towels in vinegar. Soak your stinky towels in a bucket of white, distilled vinegar for 30 minutes to overnight with a tablespoon of detergent to help loosen body soils. Vinegar contains acetic acid that breaks up mineral deposits and dissolves the build-up of body soils on your towels. Rinse thoroughly.
Put a cup of strong vinegar and a cup of baking soda in with the detergent when you wash your towels. Hang them in the sun to dry, if possible. They should smell a lot better even without the sun.
"Add a cup of white vinegar or baking soda to your laundry cycle to help neutralise stubborn odours and freshen up your clothes. For extra freshness, consider adding a few drops of essential oils, such as lavender or eucalyptus, to your wash to leave your clothes smelling heavenly."
To make towels feel softer without fabric softener, try using vinegar in the rinse cycle, avoiding over-drying, and avoiding excessive detergent, which can leave residue.
Hotels maintain the whiteness of their towels after multiple washes by using careful laundering techniques, high-quality detergents and optical brighteners. To keep towels smelling fresh, hotels use scented laundry products, prioritize proper drying and store the towels in clean and dry spaces.
Hotels typically use commercial-grade detergents that have higher concentration levels than regular household varieties. These detergents are specifically designed to tackle tough stains and maintain whiteness without causing fabric damage.
Use baking soda.
Just mix half a cup of baking soda with your normal amount of detergent. As an added bonus, baking soda naturally eliminates musty odors that may have built up – say, if you left damp towels lying around in a gym bag or in a pile on the bathroom floor.
Using vinegar in laundry is simple. You can add it to the fabric softener dispenser in your washing machine or pour it in during the final rinse cycle. When adding vinegar towards the end of the cycle, manually pause your machine right before the final rinse cycle and add a 1/2 cup of diluted white vinegar to the load.
Most towel experts would agree that it's a bad idea to use fabric softener on towels regularly, as it will decrease their absorbency over time.
Simply add half a cup of baking soda to your laundry during the wash cycle, and your clothes will come out smelling clean and feeling soft. Wool dryer balls are a natural alternative to fabric softener that can help to eliminate static, reduce wrinkles, and speed up drying time.
Using Fabric Softener:
Fabric softeners are specially designed to add a soft, pleasant scent to your clothes while reducing static and making them feel cozy. Simply add fabric softener to your laundry during the rinse cycle and let it work its magic.
If a towel continues to have a smell, it means that bacteria are still in your machine or on your towel. Run the washing machine again with bleach, or wash the towel a second time to remove the stubborn bacteria.
It's important to give linens the room they need to breathe. Over packing shelves with too much bed linen and towels stops the air circulation necessary to keep linen smelling fresh. You can also limit the chance of musty smells by lining the shelves with scented paper or adding dryer sheets between the linen.
Adding vinegar directly to the wash with your laundry detergent may compromise its cleaning performance. Laundry detergents are formulated for specific pH levels, which may be disrupted by the acidity of vinegar, leading to less effective cleaning. It's best to avoid mixing them to ensure optimal results.
Use Vinegar
Use about half the recommended amount of detergent while washing, and add ½ to 1 cup of white vinegar to the water during the rinse cycle. The vinegar helps set the colors and removes excess detergent residue.
For Preventing Buildup: Fabric softeners can build up in your machine over time and cause parts to break down. Conversely, vinegar can help remove soap residues, making it a better choice if you're concerned about buildup.
Don't Forget the Baking Soda: If you're combating mildew smell by washing your towels with a cup of white vinegar, it might be helpful to wash them for one more cycle with ½ cup of baking soda in place of your normal detergent. This will help neutralize the smell of the vinegar and any other lingering smells.
So instead of using fabric softeners, use vinegar to soften your towels while keeping them nice and absorbent. Every six weeks wash your towels once normally and then a second time without detergent but with one cup of vinegar.
While dark colors hide stains, making it difficult to notice problems, white sheets and towels allow a hotel to quickly notice potential problems during routine inspections and make sure all rooms stay equipped with clean, quality linens.
OTEX detergent
OTEX is considered the gold standard in laundry disinfection, trusted by hospitals, care homes and other social care organisations.
Pre-Treat Stains: Apply hydrogen peroxide directly onto stains and let it sit for a few minutes before washing. Boost Detergent: Add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide to your washing machine along with your regular laundry detergent for an extra cleaning boost.